Review by Drew Bittner
Basically: Two brothers hatch a scheme to rip off a racetrack. If only *everything* goes right, that is. So what if they’re notoriously unlucky?
The Logan brothers have problems. Jimmy (Channing Tatum) works a crummy construction job that gives him little time to spend with his daughter Sadie (Farrah Mckenzie), who lives with Jimmy’s ex-wife Bobbi Jo (Katie Holmes). His brother Clyde (Adam Driver) is a veteran who lost his hand in Iraq and now tends bar. Circumstances push the two to consider stealing from a world-famous racetrack. But to do it, they’ll need help from Joe Bang (Daniel Craig), their beautician sister Mellie (Ryleigh Keough) and a selection of reprobates and ne’er do wells. Oh, and Joe is an inmate in a prison with five months to go on his sentence, when the job has to be done in a week. Did we mention the Logan family has a reputation for really bad luck?
After making a trilogy of more serious heist films, Steven Soderbergh seems to be having a fine time on this film. The storyline has great pacing, for the most part, and great chemistry between the leads. Watching their improbable plan come together—and fall apart—is almost as much fun as anything Danny Ocean and his team did on screen. If the Vegas gang has more polish, this crew has more raw enthusiasm…and explosives. Seeing Joe improvise an explosive from a handful of convenience store goods is pretty intense, while Sadie’s sadness at missing her dad tugs at the heartstrings. If there is a drawback to Logan Lucky it’s that the ending introduces some complications that aren’t necessary, but the resolution still satisfies.
In the end: The movie that calls itself (onscreen) “Ocean’s Seven-Eleven” is a fun time at the movies. If the ending seems to throw some curves for the sake of it, well, you’ll at least be rooting for Jimmy and company to come out on top—even if there’s a doggedly persistent FBI agent on their trail.
